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As reported in Wednesday’s TU, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and a herd of lawmakers convened just after 10 a.m. at the top of the newly refurbished Senate staircase to cut a big red ribbon on the Senate skylight and laylight — the second year in a row that the State of the State address and the opening of the legislative session has been accompanied by a skylight ribbon cutting and likely the last.

The larger event was Cuomo’s announcement of the completion of the decade-long repair and renovation work on the Capitol, which was welcomed by former Assemblyman Jack McEneny and State Museum Director Mark Schaming in introductory remarks. McEneny recalled how Cuomo kick-started the work after taking office in 2011.

Here’s the ribbon cutting and unveiling — the skylight, by the way, has been completed but covered for a few months:

After that, Cuomo and lawmakers descended to the second floor to tour the new Hall of New York, featuring 56 land- and cityscape paintings on loan from institutions near and far. It’s an eye-popper. But for real artistry, check out the press-herding master class conducted by Prof. Joe Percoco and Dr. Josh Vlasto, who had to keep a platoon of hungry reporters out in front of Cuomo and legislative leaders in a narrow and potentially bottlenecking passage.

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Capitol Confidential gathers the best coverage of New York politics and puts it all together. Each section - Capitol, The State Worker, New York on the Potomac, and Voices - represents a unique facet of the political scene. The Capitol section features coverage from the Times Union Capitol bureau. The State Worker is dedicated to state worker issues. New York on the Potomac offers news of interest to New Yorkers from Washington. And Voices features the best of everything else, pointing you to columnists and bloggers from across the Web.